Started in 2009 by entrepreneur Thapelo Moloantoa, FullCircle Sport Online provides digital consultancy services to Free State Stars, Polokwane City and Black Leopards football clubs, as well as Stadium Management South Africa and the Hellenic, Italian and Portuguese (HIP) Alliance. Additionally, the agency handles the websites and social media for sporting professionals such as Itumeleng Khune, Teko Modise and Siphiwe Tshabalala. TEAMtalk media will continue to extend these services.
From its former London base, the agency has also managed online services for South Africans who have made their mark in UK football, such as Mark Fish and Shaun Bartlett (Charlton Athletic), Mabizela (Tottenham Hotspur) and Kagisho Dikgacoi (Fulham and Crystal Palace).
"It's great to have the FullCircle guys on board as this provides both companies with an excellent opportunity to expand skills and services to our clients and for the benefit of the industry as a whole," says Ant Pascoe, general manager of TEAMtalk media.
Moloantoa concurs and is enthusiastic: "Sport is a growing phenomenon not only in South Africa but across the continent. Sporting stars are our equivalent of Hollywood celebrities and are attracting a growing audience that stay in touch with the news on an ongoing basis. Digital makes that happen easier and more readily."
The integration of FullCircle Sport Online into TEAMtalk media is part of Ole! Media Group's focused expansion across South Africa. Providing digital publishing and content syndication services to a number of South African media companies and networks such as SuperSport, Media24, Times Media Group, MTN and Vodacom, TEAMtalk media also manages one of the largest sports networks in Africa, with more than 80 million page impressions per month. TEAMtalk media is also the official data partner in Africa for the EPL (Barclays Premier League), the PSL and others.
Benefits of the merger are already being noted by FullCircle's existing clientèle. Among them, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana player, and David Thidiela, chairman of Black Leopards FC who have welcomed the merger. Adding his voice to the general acceptance of the deal, Free State Stars FC general manager, Rantsi Mokoena said: "We are grateful to have such a long-standing relationship with FullCircle Sport Online. We are happy that TEAMtalk media identified their immense talent and selected to go into this new relationship."
